It is known to connect an electric motor or the like to a gearbox by means of a so-called lantern assembly which comprises basically a rigid lantern housing having on one side a flange adapted to be bolted to the motor and on the other side a flange adapted to be bolted to the gearbox, a so-called lantern shaft extending through the housing and carrying a pinion adapted to mesh with the gears of the gearbox, and a device for connecting the other end of this shaft to the output shaft of the electric motor. Of course, such a device can be used with a transmission or virtually any output device, and the input can be connected to an electric motor, an internal combustion engine, or the like. Indeed the input and output sides can be reversed if desired. Such an arrangement is particularly necessary when one is mounting on a gearbox a motor which is not identical to that originally supplied by the manufacturer but conforms to the new international standard. Thus the connector assembly effectively functions as an adaptor.
In such devices the connector shaft between the motor output shaft and the pinion is usually provided with an elastic coupling. This is necessary in order to compensate for unavoidable misalignments of the axis of rotation in these two elements. If such compensation is not allowed the service life of the motor and/or of the gearbox is drastically reduced.
Such elastic coupling have considerable disadvantage, however, that they increase the overall length of the connector assembly. Thus, the motor is mounted at a relatively great distance from the gearbox so as to form a clumsy overall unit.